Ive searched around and couldnt find anything to do with the symbolism of the monsters in SH4, even the quick links + translated memories site didnt have anything. Anyway.......

What is the symbolism of each monster in SH4 ? I just didnt really get any of them, they all appeared more..........japanese horror, than nightmarish creations (That 2 headed baby thing for example) ? Thanks in advance.

After SH2, the symbolism of the monsters has become gradually harder to understand.

[spoiler]The 2 headed Baby is Billy and Miriam(?) Locane, the only victims that don't appear as ghosts. the toadstools/whitestools (Things growing out of ground) Have somthing to do with Children/birth (they look like fetus' attached to umbilical cords.)

Personally I see the Monkey People (forgot the names) as the way Walter sees Men/Adult males, as two faced, thieving, primitive idiots.

The Patients I guess are the way he sees other mothers/females and who he views them in comparison to his own mother, ugly, devoid of the ability to bear they're own children, and faceless.

The dogs are I guess supposed to be there because of a dog that scared him as a young boy....so I guess half of the creatures in the game are a product of both Young Walter and Adult Walter....which I guess is why thereâ€™s the old type of enemy and new type....or maybe it because they really are new I donâ€™t know...never given any of the monsters in the games much thought.

_________________Value your failures more than your successes. Successes only last until someone screws them up. Failures are forever. She left...and...I'm lost.

Sniffer Dogs - I think it's significant that SH4 is the first in the series to have distinct male/female forms for its monsters, and this is one of the examples. It most likely reflects Walter's fixation on his parents and their different roles. In this instance I think the Sniffers are a combination of his memories of the pet store massacre and aspects of the umbilical cord motif that pervades the game. The long straw-like tongues the Sniffers use to feed are suggestive of both an ambilical cord and a penis, so the male and female sides of the equation.

Hummers - Being a cross between a bat and a mosquito these things look essentially like a flying hypodermic needle. Perhaps a combination of his infant exposure to needles etc while he was in the hospital and the later forays into the forest at night as a child.

Wall Men - Considering these things are joined to the walls it probably has a lot to do with Walter's view of the room as his mother. They reflect the state he would like to be in, ie connection to that mother. The wall men are a twisted parody of a foestus attatched to its mother within the womb.

Tremors - Like the Hummers, difficult to pin down. Perhaps a simple reflection of the slugs that infested the water prison, and which Walter was exposed to as a child. More generally they have a primordial, undeveloped quality, like an embryo in the first stages of development. One step above the primordial ooze that we all evolve from. There are two distinct varieties, red and blue, again probably male and female.

Toadstools - Two varieties. One obviously depicts an embryo attatched to the end of an umbilical cord, the other resembles perhaps the cord itself or a penis, especially the tip of it.

Gum Heads - Again male and female. The female ones have a writhing growth on their chest which resembles a baby, while the male versions have a more violent nature in that they often brandish weapons. As suggested they probably reflect Walter's view of adults, as gibbering idiotic things, the females rampantly producing babies, the males violent and abusive (like his own father).

Patient - Being sewn-together to form a female image they likely respresent Walter's attempts to patch together an idea and a reality of his mother. Also significant is that we see him feeding on the belly region of one of these composite creatures, in a parody of the manner and place that he derived nutrient from his real mother.

Wheelchairs - Perhaps a simple reflection of Walter's time in hospital, or maybe an intrusion of the original Alessa aspects of Silent Hill into Walter's own version of it.

Victims 07+08 - Manifestations of Billy and Miriam Locaine, but persisting with the motherhood theme a twin umbilical cord can be seen dangling between the two heads. Perhaps their innocent nature as children prevented them from becoming revenants like the other victims.

Bottoms - I think it's significant that these only appear after Henry's confrontation with Joseph, and that they consist of two muscular arms (similar to above), but instead of two heads there is only one hanging down underneath, just as Joseph did from the ceiling of the room. Again, perhaps because of his earnest intentions of good will in attempting to expose the cult, Joseph was prevented from being used by Walter as the other ghosts were. As such the Bottom and the Victim 07+08 may be manifestations of Walter's abiding resentment of these three innocents.

An alternative explanation as to why B/M Locaine and Joseph appear as monsters rather than ghosts, like the other victims, lies in the reverse of what I stated above. It seems very possible to me that the victims may not be intending to assist Walter at all, but stop him by killing Henry and therefore preventing the ritual from being completed. Joseph, on the other hand, places his hope in allowing Henry to survive and finish Walter completely. B/M Locaine may be exempt simply because they were too young to consider any of this. Thus the monsters we see based on these three, as I suggested, is coming from Walter's perception of them, just as the other monsters do from his hopes and fears.

Missing since: 30 Apr 2006Notes left: 302Last seen at: Is Florida considered the Dirty South or East Coast?

You mentioned something about Alessa because she stayed at a hospital. But I think it's because of Walter's stay even though it was when he was a baby (most likely a premee). Also he got beaten quite a few times. Sometimes people sustain injuries from those situations and use wheelchairs.

You mentioned something about Alessa because she stayed at a hospital. But I think it's because of Walter's stay even though it was when he was a baby (most likely a premee). Also he got beaten quite a few times. Sometimes people sustain injuries from those situations and use wheelchairs.

Ya thats what i thought to
Dude DEADRN i love your sig lol it makes me think of the nurses having a dance off lol

I mentioned Alessa simply because I can't think of any direct link between Walter and wheelchairs as a symbol. The humidicribs and other natal-related things we see throughout the hospital world make sense in relation to Walter, but I can't see how wheelchairs do. Besides the animated wheelchars you come across in various worlds, the other significant appearance of one is in the Forest World with the burnt dummy sitting on it. The parrallel with Alessa is pretty blatant, and the location is also related strongly to her (Wish/Hope House).

I think that, although Walter is the central figure of this game, the nature of the cult is still always concerned with Alessa in the background. Maybe as Walter brings his 'ressurection' of the mother closer to fruition his psychological world begins to merge with that of Alessa (the mother herself).

I'm not saying that any of this is definitely or should be accepted unquestionably, it's just how it presents itself to me.

He puts them together in the sense that they are products of his mind, not that he sits there sewing them together, if that's what you mean. And I mean feeding in that he was literally eating the belly section of the one splayed out on the hosptial bed.

Yeah, he definitely is. When you wake up after coming through the portal he's hunched over the stomach of the Patient on the bed and the sounds indicate that he's rummaging around in its body and eating it. Then when he notices you he turns around and there's blood all over his face. It's pretty disgusting which is no doubt why it stuck in my mind.